(1) To act as a go-between between unfriendly parties. (2) To beg or plead in behalf of another.

The Latin *cedere* means “to go,” so “go between” is the most literal meaning of *intercede*. (The same *-cede* root can also be seen in such words as *precede* and *secede*.) If you've been blamed unfairly for something, a friend may intercede on your behalf with your coach or teacher. More often, it will be the coach or teacher who has to intercede in a student dispute. The *intercession* of foreign governments has sometimes prevented conflicts from becoming worse than they otherwise would have.

A little space between two things; chink, crevice.

People often speak of interstices in the physical sense (referring to the interstices in surfaces, for example, or microscopic interstices between particles in chemical compounds), but also often in a less literal way (the interstices in a movie's plot, in the economy, in what's covered by a complicated tax law, etc.). The pronunciation of *interstice* is slightly unusual; you might not guess that it's accented on the second syllable. This is also true in the plural *interstices*, which is used more often than the singular form; note also that in *interstices* the final *e* is usually pronounced long, so that it rhymes with *bees*.

(1) To prohibit or forbid. (2) To destroy, damage, or cut off (as an enemy line of supply) by firepower to stop or hamper an enemy.

*Interdict* and *interdiction* are used for very serious prohibitions—more serious than, say, a professor telling the class that texting is forbidden during lectures. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, an *interdict* was a sentence imposed by the powerful Catholic Church forbidding a person or place, and sometimes even an entire country, from receiving church privileges or participating in church functions. *Interdict* now often means “cut off” in a physically forceful way as well; interdictions are usually targeted at either arms supplies or illegal drug shipments.

To put something between other things or parts, especially to put words into a piece of writing or a conversation.

The meaning of *interpolate* is often entirely innocent. An *interpolation* in a text may have been approved by everyone concerned, and an interpolation in conversation is usually just an interruption. But in its older meaning, interpolating usually meant tampering with a text secretly to change its apparent meaning. Legislators are sometimes enraged to discover what someone has quietly interpolated into their favorite bill at the last minute. And any contract always has to be read carefully to make sure the other lawyer didn't slip in an undesirable interpolation.

To rise above; overcome.

Our verb *mount*, meaning “ascend, get up onto,” comes from the same Latin root as *mountain*, and we keep those images in mind when using *surmount*, since climbing up or over a mountain is a symbol of achievement. The word almost always refers to human effort, and almost always in a positive way; thus, we speak of surmounting difficulties, surmounting problems, surmounting hurdles, surmounting handicaps—you get the idea.

An additional tax or charge.

The Arab oil embargo of 1973 led airlines to add fuel surcharges to their passenger fares that were large enough to discourage air travel. Surcharges are usually added for special service. When you request a “rush job” from a service supplier, it will probably bring a surcharge along with it. A particularly difficult phone installation may carry a surcharge. An extra-large fine for a speeding offense after you've already had too many tickets could be called a surcharge. An added tax may be called a surcharge (or *surtax*) when it only affects people withincomes above a certain level. And if those low, low prices that show up in really big letters in ads for all kinds of services turn out to be misleading, it's probably because they don't include a bunch of surcharges that you won't find out about till later.

A supply that is more than enough; excess.

Book and film critics often use *surfeit* when complaining about how an author or director has given us too much of something. In our consumer society, we're always noticing a surfeit of one thing or another, such as breakfast cereals in the supermarket. Statistics are always indicating a surfeit of lawyers or doctors or accountants in some parts of the country and a lack of them in others. The death of a young star always results in a surfeit of articles and books about him or her. And a potluck supper usually results in a surfeit of food, which might leave you *surfeited*, or stuffed.

Very strange or unusual; having the quality of a dream.

In 1924 a group of European poets, painters, and filmmakers founded a movement that they called *Surrealism*. Their central idea was that the unconscious mind (a concept Sigmund Freud had recently made famous) was the source of all imagination, and that art should try to express its contents. The unconscious, they believed, revealed itself most clearly in dreams. The *Surrealist* painters included René Magritte, Joan Miró, and Salvador Dalí, whose “limp watches” painting became the best-known Surrealist image of all. Since those years, we've used *surreal* to describe all kinds of situations that strike us as dreamlike. And even though the Surrealist movement ended long ago, surrealism now seems to be everywhere—not just in painting, literature, and movies but also in blogs, video games, and graphic novels.